Cadw to remain in Government

23 November 2017

The new Welsh Culture Minister, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, has announced that Cadw is to remain an arms-length Welsh Government body, after the Historic Wales steering group considered a business case for it to be moved into a charitable body or agency outside it.

Cadw is the Welsh Government’s Historic Environment Service, working for an accessible and well-protected historic environment for Wales. It looks after, and opens to the public, 129 monuments across Wales. Earlier this year a steering group report included a specific recommendation relating to the future governance of Cadw. A business case was then put forward to identify the best option. This considered the steering group’s recommendations that Cadw should become ‘a charitable body or an executive agency outside of Welsh Government’.

The case was taken to Cabinet colleagues in October, with Dafydd Elis-Thomas happy to implement the decision to accept its core recommendation that the successes of Cadw are best built on and developed from within Government.

The Culture Minister said, “Whilst it was appropriate at this juncture to explore all avenues as to how we can build on this success, I’m pleased to implement Cabinet’s decision to accept the business case’s clear recommendation that Cadw should remain part of Welsh Government.”

But keen to make clear that cadw should continue to evolve and progress he went on to say, “I’m equally pleased to accept recommendations relating to increased autonomy for Cadw in certain aspects. These include establishing a formal system of delegation and internal freedoms, making best use of strategic partnerships between national organisations and establishing an internal operating board.

“These recommendations will maximise the contribution that Cadw can make to an accessible and well-protected historic environment for Wales. In particular they will help ensure that the public continues to have the best possible quality monuments, attractions and events to enjoy.”

Cyllene Griffiths, Director of the Council for British Archaeology Wales stated that, "CBA Wales welcomes the statement regarding the future of Cadw from the new Minister for Culture, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, AM. Cadw has achieved some amazing results in recent years both in terms of pushing through innovative new heritage legislation for Wales and in terms of achieving commercial success for its sites. The CBA in Wales will continue working closely with Cadw and the other national heritage organisations and trust this announcement ensures a new stability for the heritage sector which will be reflected by continued political support."